


Crash Land

by Stardancer07



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mild Language, VOLTRON SEASON 2 SPOILERS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 17,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardancer07/pseuds/Stardancer07
Summary: With Shiro missing in action, all the team can do is look and pray that their leader is still alive. But after picking up on a fading distress signal, four of the Lions rocket towards a large fissure in the fabric of space. In a desperate attempt to recover their lost teammate, they go through. All four crash-land in a forest with enormous trees. But that’s not the only thing that’s giant in this world. Much to the team’s surprise, humanoid monsters lumber around them. And one of them is a skinless, blond female, blood soaking her hands.Yes, I ship Klance. It's absolutely beautiful.





	1. Keith

“There!” The dashboard in front of Keith lit up green. His lion locked on to the signal, directing him straight toward the glowing fissure, like a canyon in the nothingness of open space. His lion shuttered, desperately trying to regain control. The fissure was getting larger, the specs of space dust and small asteroids drawing closer to the rip like it was some kind of black hole.

“Keith!” Pidge’s voice screamed in his ear. “We can’t go through there! We don’t know where we’ll end up! There’s no proof that the signal is Shiro!”

“It doesn’t matter!” Keith barked back. “We have to at least try!”

“For once,” Lance chimed in, “I’m with Keith. We need Shiro back!” Keith narrowed his eyes. After Shiro’s disappearance, Lance changed, in a small way. Quieter, less flirtatious. Either way, the support was appreciated

“Well whatever we’re gonna do, we’d better do it!” Hunk, who was flying closest to the fissure, must have been flooring it to avoid getting pulled in. His rockets were at maximum, pointing away from the gap.

After a moment of terrifying silence, Keith narrowed his eyes. “I’m going in.” Aiming the nose of the Red Lion towards the fissure, his own rockets blared to life.

“We’re gonna regret this!” Pidge yelled, but swiftly followed, tailed by Lance. Hunk allowed his lion to be pulled towards the fissure. They came closer, the four remaining Voltron Lions, until the claws of the Red Lion broke the surface of the rip.

“No, Paladins!” Finally, after nothing but static, Allura’s voice practically shattered the eardrum of the pilots. “It’s a Universal Rip! You might never come back!”

However, her cries were in vain. Before the Paladins could pull away, the fissure opened wide, the black maw of a python, and swallowed the team into darkness.


	2. Pidge

Pidge

She wasn’t sure if it was her voice screaming or maybe it was Lance. With him you never could tell.  All she knew is that for some reason, she and the rest of the Paladins had followed Keith through a Universal Rip, right as Allura tried to get them away. Pidge’s dashboard was black, just like their surroundings. All she could see or even feel was the other Lions as the tumbled their way through the darkness, heading for some unknown destination.

When the tunnel of nothing did end, it was replaced by a bright light, sunlight, that streamed through the glass and into the cock pit. Pidge had to squint to see, but quickly, her eyes opened wide in terror.

“Ah!” The ground was directly in front of her, and the Green Lion was headed straight for it. Trees, like legitimate Earth trees, rose to greet her. She tried to pull up, but her Lion didn’t respond. All she could do is brace herself for the impact.

_Boom_

A groggy feeling overwhelmed her. The crash must have been bad. Pidge rubbed her head, slowing gaining the realization that she was practically sideways, her chair angled parallel to the ground. He Lion was lying on its side; the energetic glow had faded from its dashboard.

“Please let everyone be okay.” She grumbled to herself. “And together. Please let us have landed together. Let’s not have another crash landing like we did after rescuing Allura.”

Her wish was granted when he saw out of the corner of the glass the tail and hind legs of the Blue Lion. At least Lance was with her. She rolled her eyes. “Oh joy, Lance.”

Suddenly, the light green glow sparked to life inside the cockpit. “Yea! You back on!” Pidge tried the controls again, but her Lion did not move. “That’s okay. It was a bad crash, take a breather.” She paused for a moment, if the Lion was back on, maybe the helmet radios would work too. She tapped on the ear piece. “Hello, anybody with me?”

“Ah…. Pidge?” Hunk’s near puke voice responded. “Uh, I see your Lion. I’m right behind you.”

“I’m here too.” Lance moaned. “I feel like I got hit by a train.”

“Same.” Keith agreed. Pidge sighed. They were all still alive.

“Well.” She said. “I can’t move my Lion quiet yet. Can any of you.”

“Nope.” Three voice came at once.

Pidge groaned. “Keith, what did I tell you? We don’t even know where we are!” Now felt like a good time to point that out. The right time? No, but she couldn’t help it.

“We’re on Earth, I think.” Keith argued back. “Look at the trees! And I swore I just saw a deer run by.”

“I’d hold off on that assumption, Keith.” Hunk’s voice went from pukey to nervous.

“Why?” Pidge asked. It did look like Earth, everything. In a small corner of her heart, it ached for home.

“Because.” He argued. “There’s a giant naked person staring into my cockpit right now.”


	3. Hunk

The Paladins had seen a lot of things. Planets that were actually massive crystal making creatures. Mermaids. Crazy food. Trees and bushes being transformed into weapons. Haunted castles. More crazy food. But giant, weirdly portioned naked people? To Hunk, this was new.

“Guys?” He called into the radio. “I swear it’s staring at me.”

“Unless is as X-Ray vision,” Pidge reasoned, “it shouldn’t be able to see you.” But even her voice seemed a bit nervous.

“I can see it too.” Lance interjected. “Quiznack, that is weird.” The beast, seemingly somewhat male, stared for a second more. Suddenly, it’s head perked up, focusing on some point deep in the forest. It turned away from the Lions, lumbering off into the brush.

“It’s leaving.” Hunk reported. “I don’t think it cares about us. It looks like it found something else.”

“Ok, so maybe not Earth.” Keith admitted. “Everyone try your Lions again. See if they move.”

As he said, Hunk pushed on the control sticks, trying to force the Yellow Lion to rise. This time, it responded, rising onto its feet. “Hey! We’re back in business!” He swiveled the head to face the others, whose Lions had also responded.

“We still had a bad crash. Let’s take it slow, no flying just yet.” Somehow, in the absence of Shiro, Keith had stepped up.

“Aye-aye Galra Keith!” Hunk, though no one could see him, saluted anyway, in perfect Garrison form. He could almost hear Keith clench his teeth at the Galra comment.

With Hunk in the lead, the team began to move forward. Swing his head from side to side, the forest, seemed eerily quiet. “Does anyone notice that these trees seem really big?” Hunk noted.

“Yea.” Lance agreed. “They’re huge! Wonder why.”

Still, despite the tree being enormous, they really looked like Earth trees. And so did all the other plant life. Suddenly, Hunk had the urge to cook. Using human ingredients again. His mouth began to water.

“Hold up!” Pidge hissed. The Lion’s stopped. She continued. “I’m picking up a whole bunch of heat signatures. Both big and small. I’m going to guess the big ones are probably like that giant we just saw. But the small ones. They look sorta human shaped, but they’re in the trees. Weird.”

There was a moment of silence, before Keith spoke. “Whatever is out there, I don’t think we should just waltz up to it. Pidge, can you go stealth mode? See what’s going on?”

Without a word, the Green Lion disappeared. Pidge’s signal on the dashboard screen was the only thing showing Hunk where she was. Slowly, her figure crept between the trees.

“Ok, coming up on the first group now.” He voice was low. “Oh my gosh, they are humans!” An image popped up on the screen, to seen whatever Pidge was seeing. And there they were, humans, five of them. One younger, brown-haired boy, maybe even Hunk’s age. The others were older, three males and one female. They all wore the same thing, green cloaks with wings insignias on their backs. Around their waists, metal box-ish contraptions hung like saddle bags. Soldiers, maybe? No soldiers he’d ever heard of. They were perched on the branches, circled up, discussing something. All five held intense expressions on their faces, incredibly serious.

“Can you get some kind of sound?” Keith asked.

“Sure.” A sharp snap could be heard, and suddenly, the private conversation was brought to life. Something about a Commander. So yes, military. And a spy? Whatever it was, they were definitely talking about a spy, and lots and lots of deaths. And one word kept popping up, Titan. Maybe these giants, were they the Titans these humans were talking about.

Suddenly. The cloud themselves seemed to stop. A horrifying, blood curling screech ripped through the speakers. Hunk quickly clapped his hands over his helmet, but the noise still echoed through his skull. It was awful, the kind of screech you hear from a horror movie. After a few, terrible seconds, the sound vanished.

“What the heck was that?” Lance didn’t seem to happy that his eardrums were almost blown off.  

“I don’t know.” Pidge groaned. “But I have to get back. My cloaking’s about to wear off.” She pulled away and the video of the humans disappeared. Within a few moments, the Green Lion flickered into view into front of the rest.

“Uh guys?” The sound of thumping filled the forest. He pulled up the heat signal vision. Following that scream, all of the largest figures had started rapidly moving towards a single point.

“What the heck is going on?”


	4. Lance

Quickly, Lance pulled up his own sensor, watching as the numerous red hot figures rushed towards their unknown target, which seemed to be another taller one of the same size.

“Hey guys!’ He called. “What are we doing?”

“Give me a few more seconds.” Pidge’s voice was distracted obviously watching her own screen. “Once my stealth mode’s back up, I’ll go back and see what those humans do.” Lance fidgeted in his seat. This whole this was interesting and all, but they still needed to find Shiro. Wasn’t the reason they came here after all?

After a few minutes of watching, Lance noticed something strange. All of the larger figures, these giants, they were incredibly hot. Not hot, as in his kind of hot, as in like boiling water hot. And the other thing, the target, the figure that they all rushed into, was gone. Vanished under the mass of heat signatures.

“I’m back up!” Pidge announced. Instantly, the Green Lion vanished again. Within seconds, the image of the five reappeared. But before they could hear any more of their conversation, all of them turned their heads toward the sky. Lance did the same, spotting the green stream of smoke. On the screen, all five jumped from their perches. Metal coils shot from the metal boxes, latching onto trees, and they swung, like monkeys on a vine, towards the smoke.

“Pidge, follow.” Keith commanded. “Stay hidden, we’ll be right behind you.” The remainder of the Lions sprang into action, following behind while making sure to stay far enough away to not be seen.

Lance watched as the humans flew through the air, bobbing up and down as they swung. Out of the corner of the screen, he spotted a flash of green. Another human and come close, this time, the cape’s hood covered their face. “Hey guys, there’s another one.”

Pidge must have moved her Lion’s head, and soon the newcomer was centered in the video’s feed. The others also saw this and turned, not stopping.

Lance heard one yell, “Captain Levi?” The strange one did not respond. Suddenly, the one who called out, his face turned to panic. “That’s not…. Oh shit!”

In seconds, the hood figure changed course, unsheathing twin blades, and lashing them across his chest. In unison, the Paladins gasped at the murder they just witnessed.

“What the hell?” Lance shouted, still not believing what he saw. He might not have known exactly what was going on, but it looked like they had found the spy.

One of the five, now four, stayed, hanging in front of the dangling body of his comrade, screaming “Gunta!” before the other grabbed him and forced him to keep moving. The hooded attacker, followed swiftly. Over the video feed, they heard a shout, “Is that the Female Titan?” Static, then the girl screamed, “I’m going to make you pay, if it’s the last thing I do!”

Suddenly it was clear to Lance. These people were being hunted, and this hooded murderer, they were the enemy. Something inside Lance twitched, and without thinking, he sped up.

“Lance!” He heard Keith call, but ignored him. While subconsciously dodging trees, Lance watched the screen as the newcomer vanished from sight for a second. _Where did they…_ he thought.

A huge flash of light, like an orange bolt of lightning, hurtled down from the sky, striking a spot not far in front of the Blue Lion. Lance didn’t need the video to see this. Appearing before him, a massive, skinless woman appeared, the short blond hair flailing widely, mixed with steam. Lance had to slam on the breaks to avoid crashing into it.

Not spotting the giant Lion behind her, the monster charged after the four humans, pursuing at an alarming rate. Those humans must have been going at full speed to stay ahead.

“Lance!” Keith ordered. “Fall back! We can’t…”

“Lay off!” Lance growled back, spurring his Lion back into the chase. “She’ll kill them! They’re human, Keith! Just like us! We can’t let them die!” With that, Lance drove the Blue Lion harder, his jet back flaring to life, back legs digging in the ground. Suddenly, he was visible to the whole group, human and monster.

“Take this!” Leaning hard to the right, Lance slammed the hard body of the Lion into the monster, hip checking it. Together, Lion and creature tumbled into the earth.


	5. Chapter 5

If Lance got any more hot-headed, his hair would catch on fire. Keith watched as Lance side checked the giant woman, sending her flying. She smashed into one of the trees, and came crashing to the ground. Lance, was better off, regaining control quickly and turning to face off.

Clenching his teeth, Keith brought his Lion to a halt, as did Hunk. The Green Lion appeared on the other side. All four Lions surrounded the downed monster, trapping her.

Keith growled over the radio. “Lance what the heck were you thinking? We don’t know anything about what’s going on!”

“Did you just want me to watch them die?” The response was angry and accusatory.

“No, of course not.” Keith fired back. “Either way, we’re here now.” He focused back on the giant, which was pulling itself back up. Keith saw its wild, confused eyes dart around, taking in each Lion. Then it stared back at the ground. Steam rose from the gashes on its body, somehow, looking like they were closing.

“Be ready,” Keith warned. “Whatever happens keep your eyes on…” His sentence was cut off when the creature reared up its head. A blast of hot steam seemed to explode from the body, fogging up the screen with white. Quickly, Keith switched to heat sensors, but all he could see was red.

“Back up!” He yelled. His Lion took several steps backward, clearing the steam. On either side, the other Paladins backed away from the cloud.

“Where did…” Pidge’s confusion could be heard loud and clear. “How did? I couldn’t see anything.”

“Yea me neither.” Hunk agreed. “But look, that giant thing is, like, vaporized.”

Keith turned back to where the monster had been. And Hunk was right, all that was left was a huge skeleton, and that too was beginning to drift away.

“Uh guys?” Lance’s voice was nervous again. “We have company.”

Suddenly, Keith remember the humans that Lance had just saved. Steering his Lion back towards the spot he had last saw them, he stopped. The four had found a nearby branch and was staring, open mouthed, at the Lions.

“I guess we made quiet an entrance.” Pidge said quietly. That was putting it lightly. God what the heck had Lance done.

Should they run? Probably not. The humans might chase them. Besides, since Lance did just save them, they might be at least a little bit willing to help. Taking a deep breath, Keith turned on his outside speaker.

“We come in peace.” Keith winced at his own words. What was this, an alien movie? Well, they were in alien warships, and Keith was in fact part Galra, so he just went with it. “We saw you were in trouble and decided to help. Please, I’m going to come out now, don’t attack. We’re friends.”

Getting up out of his seat, Keith eyes their drawn blades warily. They looked like giant meat cleavers. Even with his Bayard, the sword, and the Blade of Marmora’s weapon, he was cautious.

Exiting by the top of his Lion, Keith climbed up into the open. For the first time, he could see the humans clearly. “My name is Keith. I’m a Paladin of Voltron, if that means anything to you…”

“It doesn’t.” The woman was the first to speak. Keith could hear that she was shaken, but still managed to put that steel in her voice.

“Quiet, Petra.” The blond, tallest man hissed. He narrowed his eyes at Keith. “You’re going to start explaining. But first, how do we know you’re not an enemy? Show us proof.”

“Uh, we kinda just saved you from being murdered?” Keith offered. Not the friendliest people, for sure. “We saw what happened to your…the other guy in your group. We’re the kind of people who stop stuff like that from happening.”

“We?” The teenager, and obviously the youngest, questioned. Keith could see the curiosity in his eyes. But one of the others gave him a glare and he shrunk back.

Keith nodded. “Yea, there’s five of us. Well… currently four… but we’re looking for our leader. We hoped we might find him here.”

“Your leader?” Some older guy, who looked like he was desperately trying to appear unshaken, unsuccessfully, was the one who spoke next. “We haven’t seen anything like you before. Besides,” he glared at Keith, who truly was unfazed. “Why the heck should we believe anything you say? And what in the hell are those things?” He gestured to the Lions.

“These are our battleships, sort of. They’re called the Lions of Voltron.” Keith held the man’s stare. “I’m its pilot.”

“Battleship?” The woman asked. “Like a boat?”

“Kinda,” Keith release the stare and turned to look at her. “It’s a bit more complicated than a boat.” He winced. Calling his Lion a boat was a bit insulting, but they didn’t know better.

“Hang on.” The blonde man spoke again. “If you captain that red one, the other three with you are inside of those…Lions?”

“Yea.”

All the soldiers eyed the other Lions, waiting to see if they would move. Keith was getting tired of this game of twenty questions. “Hey.” He called. “Look, we really need to find our leader. If you could help us out, we’d be willing to tell you more, and help you out. But please, we don’t know a lot about the surroundings here. If you could at least point us in the direction of the closest town…”

“I think not.”

Keith nearly jumped out of his skin. Suddenly, a whizzing noise filled the air. Fast as a ninja, another soldier appeared next to his comrades. This one was incredibly short, and his face held a permanent scowl. He scanned over the Lions with a blank expression. If he was surprised to see the Lions, he didn’t show it. The other soldiers, made way for him, like they would a superior. As the youngest boy stepped aside, Keith heard him quickly say, “Captain Levi…”

“Here’s the deal.” The newcomer said, his voice striking a powerful tone. “You’ll come with us, we’ll take you inside the wall.” He sniffed as he locked gazes with Keith. “And you’ll tell us the truth, all of it. I get the feeling this is going to be one hell of a story.”


	6. Pidge

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. They were stranded, surrounded by apparently man eating monsters and hostile humans on a maybe Earth planet from another dimension. And it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Pidge concluded that the Paladins were a special kind of stupid. Five stars for Keith and Lance. Pidge again wondered how she managed to get herself stuck out in space with a bunch of testosterone fueled males.

“Can I voice again that this might not be the best idea?” She whined over the radio.

“Pidge,” Keith retorted back, “For the millionth time, _I get it_. This situation isn’t ideal, but we have to just roll with it.”

She huffed. She had been rolling with it the whole time now. She rolled with it when the short guy (not that she can talk) ordered them to exit their Lions. She rolled with it while all four Paladins desperately tried to explain how and why they were there. She even rolled with it when the soldiers glared at her, as if trying to examine her soul. And here she was, rolling with it, as they followed these strangers back to wherever they were from.

At least they allowed them to bring the Lions with them, instead of making them abandon them in the woods. Their commander, a tall, surprisingly reasonable man with blonde hair and a commanding tone to match, had seen fit to permit the team to return to the cockpit and follow the soldiers as the returned from their mission. On one condition. A trusted soldier had to be in the cockpit with them. And Pidge had to be stuck with the insane one.

“So, this is a giant machine? How exciting!” This woman, Squad Leader Hange, they called her. She never shut up. Pidge was seething in her seat as she directed her Lion to halt as the soldiers and their horses stopped.

“Yes,” Pidge grumbled.

“And you guys are from outer space?” Hange was leaping around like a kid on Christmas, examining every nook and cranny, as if she was looking for a hidden toy. But to her, the whole Lion must have seemed like a new life form.

“Sort of.” Pidge admitted. “I mean us Paladins are human, but the Lions are alien tech that we don’t totally understand.”

“Amazing.” Hange was certainly an interesting character. Pidge wasn’t sure if she was lucky she didn’t get that other short, Captain Levi person, or unlucky because she was stuck with a four-eyed noisy scientist. But as Pidge turned around, she caught the Squad Leader’s eye. Through the glass, she spotted something she recognized every time Pidge herself looked into the shiny reflective new surface of a new robot, curiosity. Quickly, the Paladin realized, this is how she must seem to the others in her team. Oh Quiznack.

“So, you know nothing about the Titans?” Hange held her glaze.

“Not really.”

“I must say, I’m a bit jealous.” Hange looked away. “Although, you don’t seem to be a stranger to combat. You know what it’s like to be at war.”

A picture of her brother, Matt and her father flashed through her head. All the battles she’s fought, for them. Pidge replied with all honestly. “Yes. We’re at war with an alien race called the Galra that have conquered most of the known universe. It’s…. not easy.”

“I know what you mean.” Hange glanced out the windows of the cockpit. Pidge followed her glaze and gasped. Out in front of her, where all the soldiers had stopped, people dragging mangled bodies gathered. Every single one wore grim faces, torn by grief and horror. Pidge shrunk back. The war with the Galra was bad, but not this. Nothing like this.

“The Titans did that?” Pidge stammered.

“Yes. The one you guys fought earlier, the Female Titan, ambushed our right flank with a wave of super-fast Titans. They were completely annihilated.”

Pain struck like an arrow in Pidge’s heart. This place was crazy, a world completely ravaged by suffering. Instantly, fear rippled through her. Without a Lion, without a Bayard, what could have happened to Shiro.

“You’re worried about your leader?” Hange guessed. “I’m guessing he didn’t know much about this either.”

Pidge nodded. “He doesn’t have his Lion with him, or his Bayard. He could be in real trouble if he found himself surrounded by those…Titans.”

“Well, you should lose hope just yet,” Hange encouraged. “If he’s inside the Walls, he should be fine.” Her voice sounded a bit insincere, but she was right. They couldn’t give up when there was still a chance.

“These walls… they keep the Titans out?” Pidge questioned.

“For the most part.” Hange was still watching as her comrades gathered their dead. “There were three walls. Maria, Rose and Sina. However, five years ago, Wall Maria was breached by the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan. The Female Titan might be working with them, maybe, but we lost a lot of land. Now, the remainder of humanity resides behind Walls Rose and Sina. Well, actually….” Hange turned to Pidge. “Are we truly alone? If you’re out there, maybe you could help us. If there are more of your people out there, perhaps we’re not in deep of a rut as we thought.”

Pidge, looked away ashamed. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I wouldn’t count on anything though. There aren’t any more of us out there. And right now, us Paladins are still trying to save the universe from the Galra.”

Hange sighed. “As if these Titans weren’t enough, now we have to deal with aliens. Will they make it here? Will they attack and take over? Do we have to worry about invaders from space too?”

“I doubt it. You don’t have to worry about them.” Pidge thought back to the Universal Rip. She wasn’t even sure if her team could even return to their dimension. If not, they were stuck among the evil naked people and these crazy humans.

“Well, it looks like they’re heading out.” Hange pointed to the soldiers as the remounted their horses. A pile of bodies had been moved into the wagon, covered by a sheet. Still, Pidge could guess the casualties had been high, as numerous sets of feet could be seen peeking out of the cover. She winced and looked away.

As she nudged the Green Lion forward, all she could think was, _Shiro, are you even still alive?_


	7. Lance

Well Pidge had gotten the weird glasses lady, Keith had gotten the scary short guy, Hunk was stuck with a man who had insisted on smelling each of them before they departed. But Lance? Lance got lucky. Lance got Nanaba. She was blonde with short hair, and quiet. She hadn’t spoken much the, but hey Lance enjoyed the challenge. However, when he tried, she shut him down quickly. It was going to be tough.

But for the moment, Lance’s attention was on the wall. It was huge, at least 50 meters high. Large enough and thick enough to make it even difficult for a Lion to break through.

“That wall keeps the Titans out.” Finally, she spoke on her own accord.

Surprised, Lance probed. “I see. So, are we going in there? I mean, we’re getting close. Is there an entrance large enough for our Lions?”

“No.” She replied tersely. “My guess is the commander will have you leave your Lions at the base of Wall Rose, and you four will come over alone.”

“Because he doesn’t trust us.” Lance guessed.

“That and other reasons. We can’t have you terrifying the citizens. These people have been through enough as it is.”

Lance thought back to what he had witnessed before. The bodies, the blood. He couldn’t help worrying about Shiro. What kind of hell had they landed in.

But before he could delve deep into his thoughts, the soldiers came to a halt, and the Paladins stopped. Lance could see their commander motioning for them to get out.

“Stay in you Lions, guys.” Keith spoke again over the radio. “I’ll see what he wants us to do.” Lance watched as the Red Paladin exited his Lion, followed by Captain Levi. He saw them converse with Commander Erwin back and forth, probably discussing what course of action to take.

Bored with sitting on the side lines. Lance made another attempt. “So, what’s life like for you guys? How does your military work? Do you have a king? Or a queen?”

“Life is…cramped.” Nanaba admitted. “Inside the Walls, there’s not a lot of land. I remember before Wall Maria fell, we had way more space. That’s why I joined the Scouts. There isn’t any room for me inside anymore.”

“Makes sense.” Lance agreed. “And the Scouts. They’re part of the military?” She told him of three groups, the Scouts, the Military Police, and the Garrison, and what each did.

“I used to be part of a Garrison,” Lance said. “We weren’t like them though. Our mission was to explore space.”

Lance saw a sparkle in Nanaba’s eyes. “Space? So, you travel beyond the sky.”

“Yea.”

“And what is that like?”

Lance thought about it for a moment. “It’s…. crazy. Absolutely insane. Anything you can imagine, any wild idea or creature, it’s out there. And everything you can’t imagine, too.” Her eyes seemed so longing, so curious. Lance wished he could show her, show them all, what it’s like to fly among the stars.

“Hey, guys, listen up.” Keith was done talking to the commander. He was now addressing the team. “Look, they’re going inside. We are going a bit farther down the Wall to the right, then going up and over.”

“Got it.” Hunk’s voice echoed over the speaker.

“Alright.” Lance said aloud. He turned to Nanaba. “Not sure if you heard that but we’re going to the right a bit and then inside the walls.”

“What?” She asked in confusion. “How the heck are you planning to get this giant, cat machine over a 50-meter wall?”

Lance gave a smug smile. “Watch and learn.”

After gunning the Blue Lions into a run, farther down, he noticed that the wall they had almost reached was really some sort of extension to another one, like a stretched semi-circle jutting out from another much larger circle. Lance guessed that there was a town inside that outcropping, and the Lions couldn’t hop over there without causing damage.

“Wait!” Nanaba’s voice was now filled with confusion. “You can’t bust through that wall! If you do the Titans will get in!”

“Relax.” Lance puffed. “I’ not going through, I’m going over! You ready?”

“No!” Nanaba yelled, gripping the back of Lance’s seat. “Wait! Wait! WAIT!”

Lance thrust the joysticks forwards and the Blue Lion blasted into the air. Nanaba screamed as the force of the jump messed with the gravity. The Blue Lion, following the Red Lion’s tail, sailed over the Wall, not even grazing the top with its claws. In a controlled fall, the four Lion’s landed on a patch of open space, gently setting down.

“Oh, god.” Nanaba was still clutching the back of the seat. “This thing can fly…. it can really fly….”

“Well how did you think we got into space?” Lance joked. Nanaba turned to look at Lance, and for the first time she smiled.

“This….” She stammered. “This changes everything!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I skipped Hunk, you'll see him next chapter. And second, Nanaba is an actual character, didn't make her up, though you see more of her in the second season. (I call, no spoilers in the comment section, be nioce.)


	8. Hunk

Weird nosy guy aside, it wasn’t all bad. These soldiers were human at least, and though they were hostile, they seemed to be reasonable.

This guy Miche, had directed Hunk to meet up with the other soldiers at a run-down castle, some ways away from the town and the wall. Night was coming down, and the stars just began to peek out in the farthest reaches of the eastern sky. Once all the Lions had been found their way to the castle, Hunk and the other exited to meet the soldiers who were just now arriving.

“One jump,” Miche said as he walked up to Commander Erwin. “It took one jump for them to clear the Wall. Just one.”

“Impressive.” The Commander was not easily phased, which Hunk couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. As the other Paladins gathered, Erwin turned his attention to them. “So, we can speak more inside. That is, if you don’t mind leaving behind your machines.”

“That won’t be an issue.” Keith spoke, taking his leadership stance once again. “Our Lions will be fine out here. Though I wouldn’t recommend anyone exploring them. They don’t open for anyone but us.” As if on cue, the force fields on each Lion sprung to life, bubbling themselves up in an impenetrable barrier.

“Woooo!” The glasses woman that had ridden with Pidge shrieked in excitement. “Is that some kind of energy barrier? Oh if we had one of those!” Hunk couldn’t help but wonder if Pidge would grow up like her. They had that same crazy look in their eyes.

“Very well.” Erwin nodded, still un-phased. “Follow me please.” The group followed his towards the castle. Despite it being old, the building was clean. Hunk glanced behind him and watched the sun set. Wow, it had been so long since any of them had seen a sunset. It must have been during dinner in the dining hall back at the Garrison.

At the thought of his last Earth meal, Hunk stomach began to grumble. He didn’t mean to, but the grumble was much too loud. It caught the commander’s ear, well, everyone’s ear.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you guys haven’t eaten in a while.” The glasses lady, Hange, he thought, was the one glancing at him now.

“Well, he’s always hungry.” Pidge sighed. “But yea.”

“I’m sure we can get you something to eat.” Commander Erwin agreed.

Soon, four Paladins, plus four soldiers, gathered around a long wooden table inside the castle. The Scouts had provided some sort of stew, with no meat, just potatoes, carrots and other small things. It didn’t taste fabulous, Hunk found, much to his disappointment, but it was better than the school lunches from his elementary years. At least this stew didn’t bounce three feet when dropped, like the hot dogs did. However, while hungrily devouring his meal, a list of appropriate spices ran through his head, though he kept his mouth shut.

“So.” The Commander brought the conversation back to the group. “Levi tells me you’re looking for someone.”

Hunk saw Keith stop eating and put his spoon down. “That’s right. Our leader, Shiro. We think he’s here.”

“And your leader is human, right?” Miche guessed.

Hunk nodded. “Yea. We got a signal that traced his location. We need him, we can’t fight the Galra without him.”

“You seem plenty strong without him.” Levi, whom Hunk had not heard speak before now, was the one to cut in. “It only took one of those machines to send the Female Titan flying.”

“The Galra are much stronger than that thing was.” Pidge explained. “It takes everything we have just to keep up with them.”

“Speaking of that giant person.” Hunk interjected.  He had been keeping a million questions bottled up, and couldn’t hold them much longer. “Is there more like her? You called them Titans, do they control everything around here? And all those casualties, did she cause them? And the walls keep them out, right? How long have the Titans been around? Where do they even come from? Why do they only seem to attack humans?”

The woman who rode with Pidge, thought for a second before responding. “Yes. Mostly. Yes. Yes. A little over 100 years. We have no idea, and we have no idea.”

The other around the tables just stared, supposedly processing the exchanging, while Hunk just nodded and went back to thinking.

“Sorry, but that…Female Titan.” Lance started. For a second, Hunk tensed, waiting for Lance to be his usual flirtatious self, but was surprised when he finished with, “She was different than all the others. That hooded person, it looked like she became that Titan… Is that possible?”

The Commander nodded. “Yes, it’s safe to assume that whoever the Female Titan is, she’s what we call a Titan shifter, a human wrapped in a Titan body, able to control it and go in and out of that state. We have one in our ranks, and he’s the first one that we were aware of. It’s possible that the Armored and Colossal Titans, the variants that took down Wall Maria, are shifters too. We believe she was after our shifter, but thankfully, you stopped her.”

Hunk remembered them saying something about this third wall, along with the giants that destroyed it. He remembered back to the first time they rescued a planet, and where he met Shay. These Titans were like the Galra, a sweeping plague that took away freedom. Somewhere inside, Hunk felt an ember of anger flicker to life.

“But she got away, didn’t she?” Pidge asked. “We weren’t able to see where she went.”

“Yes but, we believe we’ll see her sometime soon.” Hange agreed. “It’s only a matter of time before we discover her identity. And once we do that, we’ll just have to find a way to capture her.”

“Maybe we can help each other with that.” Keith finished up his stew and stood. “We realize that you must be completely absorbed with trying to keep this civilization from destruction, and this Female Titan is a huge problem. Helping us probably isn’t your top concern. But if we help you catch her, you could have more resources to help us look for our leader.”

“That sounds like a solid deal.” Erwin nodded and smiled. “I believe the Scouts can get behind that.”

“Now the only issue is actually finding her.” Hange said with a grin. “We better get started on that.”

As if on cue, there was a knock on the large door behind Hunk. As he turned, a short blonde haired boy charged in panting, dressed in the tan soldier uniform. He was followed by a taller girl with black hair, followed by the teen from the squad in the forest. Each of them held a wild expression, as if they were about to explode with a secret.

“Eren,” Levi commanded. “What are you doing here?”

“Sir,” he panted out, clearly on edge. “Armin, we believe we may have…” Cautiously, he glanced at the Paladins sitting around the table.

“Speak, don’t worry about them.” Erwin said.

“Well, sir,” The blonde boy, supposedly Armin, stammered. “I think we figured out the identity of the Female Titan.”


	9. Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little bit a Keith getting jealous when he doesn't even realize it. Ha. and a little surprise in for ya

Well, it was safe to say that everyone in the room was a bit shocked. Maybe the stay in this crazy world would be as long as he thought. Keith blinked a couple times to make sure he heard right. “Wait, really?”

At first, this newcomer, Armin blinked back at him, then nodded his head. “Um, yes. I mean…I could be wrong but… it’s an idea.”

The Commander stood. “Armin is your name, correct?” The kid nodded. “You, Eren and Mikasa will stay here and explain. Meanwhile, Miche, please show our guests back to their machines. I’m sure they have more questions. You and Nanaba should be sufficient to answer anything they can come up with. Also, I’d like you to get an assessment on what exactly they can do.” He turned to the Paladins. “If that is alright.”

Keith knew this was the Commander’s nice way of kicking them out. He understood, the identity was a big secret and the Paladins were not completely trusted yet. “It’s not a problem. Common, guys.” They all stood and followed Miche out. The three teens watched with curious eyes as they went.

Footsteps echoed down the firelit hallway. A little way down, Miche poked his head into a room and Nanaba exited. Keith might have been imagining it, but she might have sported a small smile when she saw Lance. Keith rolled his eyes. Of course, Lance flirted with his female escort. All Keith got was the scary Captain Levi. But he didn’t say anything.

They made it out into the court yard, where the Lions’ force field glowed in their respective colors. “Do you guys have any more questions?” Miche asked. “Or can we start seeing what you all are made of.”

“Well,” Keith shrugged. “If they really do know, then we might be fighting sooner rather than later. Why don’t we show what we can do, then ask questions. We’ll be better prepared that way.”

“Sounds reasonable.” Nanaba agreed. “First things first, how are you at hand to hand combat. We know those machines are strong, but how are you individually?”

“We are trained to fight on our own, too.” Pidge explained. “A lot of times, we end up fighting without the Lions.”

“Hand to hand combat?” Nanaba tilted her head. “That might not do you much good. As you saw, every soldier is trained with these blades.” She drew two large meat cleavers from the contraptions around her waist. “What you have now won’t do you much good.”

Keith almost found himself smiling. “Not exactly.” In a slightly smug way, he pulled out his Blade of Marmora knife, and well as his Bayard. Both blazed to life in his hands. Startled, both Scouts stepped back.

“Where did they come from?” Miche was staring at the swords, cautiously eyeing them.

“It’s….” Keith tried to come up with an explanation. “Advanced technology. Really hard to explain. But I have a decent understanding of how to use them.”

“And all of you have these weapons?” Nanaba asked, looking at the others.

“We have different weapons.” Pidge clarified. “Each of us have weapons that best suit us.” She pulled out her Bayard, a glowing green grappling hook, to demonstrate. Lance and Hunk did the same, a yellow cannon, and a blue energy rifle. The soldiers just gaped in amazement.

“And what can they do exactly?” Nanaba looked around at the Paladins.

“You want a demonstration?” Lance smiled in his lady’s man way. Keith sighed.

“Yes!”

Lance took aim. He focused in on a tree, some 20 meters away, and fired off three shots. Next, they saw three leaves, with burned out holes right in the same spot, floated to the ground. It was so quiet in the court yard that Keith swore he heard the leaves in the stone floor. Lance pulled up his rifle with the smuggest look on his face. Right, he had named himself the sharpshooter. Like Lance needed any more hot air in his head.

Pidge was next. Stepping up with her sharpened grapple, she expertly flicked her wrist, letting it fly, slicing off several of the trees larger branches. They came crashing to the earth right on top of Lance’s leaves.

The attention then turned to Hunk, who leveled his cannon at the base of the tree’s trunk. Two shots fired off. One smashing into the left side of the trunk, the second into the right. With little stability left, the fairly large tree feel sideways, collapsing with a crash, the remaining branches snapping. The soldiers took a few minutes to assess the carnage.

“Impressive.” Miche said. “It’s safe to say that tree cutting would be much easier with your machines.”

The other three who had taken on the tree smiled. Keith looked down at his two blades, wondering how he was going to prove his skills with a tree.

“That’s all well and good that they can take down trees.” A low dissatisfied voice came from behind them. When Keith turned, Captain Levi was approaching them, followed by the three teens who had come in earlier. “However,” Levi continued. “Can they face off against a legitimate opponent?” He stopped. Eyeing Keith’s swords, Levi spoke to Keith. “You think you can use them? Show me.”

Without warning, fast as lighting, the soldier had his blades drawn, one each hand. In one swift movement, Levi had closed the gap between Keith and himself. He swung his swords up, his speed working on an insane level.

However, Keith’s title of the Red Paladin wasn’t for nothing. Matching the Captain, the two mismatched blades met the steel, blocking the swing, sparking dancing in the night. Holding out in a glare, Levi’s face remained unwavering. “Not bad.” He said, not letting up. “But are you all defense?”

Keith, facing a true challenger, felt his instincts take over. If he backed away from this fight, he would be disgracing his position as the Red Lion’s Paladin. Forcing his blades to push past is opponent’s, the block broke. Levi was pushed back a step. Both pairs of eyes narrowed.

Keith stuck hard and fast, attacking with a series of arching swings. Levi blocked the first, dodged the second, and swung around for a strike of his own. It barely missed, Keith could almost feel the steel on his skin, though it did make contact. With the Marmora’s blade, he batted Levi’s first sword away, and his Bayard skimmed the surface of the other. But with that, Levi’s left himself open. With both Keith’s blades blocking, he smashed his elbow into the soldier’s ribcage. But it was like Levi almost absorbed the hit, barely recoiling an inch.

The fight went on at super speed, yet almost in slow motion. Keith could barely tell what he was doing, blocking, attacking, dodging, striking. He wasn’t losing, nor could he find a clear advantage. Keith had never fought this way with someone before, not the Blade of Marmora, or the Galra, much less another human. All the other human’s Keith had picked a fight with he had smoked. Maybe…Maybe because of the Galra in his blood. But this man, he matched him swing for swing.

The fight only ended when Keith, with the last of his energy brought both of his blades down in a surging arch. Levi brought his up to block. However, with the force of his swing, upon connecting with Levi’s swords, the steel shattered. Keith’s weapons demolished the twin swords, and sunk into the stone right next to Levi’s feet. The remainder of his opponent’s weapons clanged to the ground.

The court yard was even quieter than when Lance had made his shots. Levi looked at his blades then straightened himself. “Ok, so you can use them.” He glanced at the other Paladins. “Erwin’s currently working on a plan. He’s going to fill you in when morning comes. Miche, Nanaba, you’re to come back inside. These three will keep you company.” He gestured to the teens who still stood in awe at the fight they witnessed.

The two senior soldiers followed Levi back inside, while those who remained in the court yard just silently watched them go.


	10. Pidge

After the fierce contest between Keith and Levi, Pidge honestly didn’t know what to think. Obviously, Levi was good, maybe even the strongest this humanity had. But he kept up with Keith, matched him swing for swing. Honestly, the Paladins were as surprised as the soldiers were.

“What kind of training did you have, anyway?” The blonde kid, Armin, was the first to break the silence. “That definitely wasn’t any style I’ve seen.” The two others were looking intently at Keith.

The Paladin just shrugged. “Well, I kinda, taught myself. There is a training deck on our ship, there’s a lot of stuff there to help me out.”

“Incredible.” The other boy, Eren, had his eyes open wide. “I didn’t think anyone was faster than Captain Levi.”

“He’s not faster.” Pidge slipped in. Suddenly, all eyes were on her. “Well, I think both were equally matched, but Keith had superior weapons. The blades shattered because the Bayard was just a stronger material. Your swords are steel. That was the only difference I could see.” Keith nodded. Still, the fight would’ve impressed anyone.

“So there’s a training deck on your ships?” Eren was now looking at the Lions.

“Nope,” Lance corrected. “Pidge meant our other ship. It’s more like a flying castle. That’s where we land the Lions and stuff like that. Eat, sleep, travel, whatever.”

“You mean you have another ship that’s bigger?” Armin’s eyes also had that curious spark that Hange did.

Pidge smiled. “Yea. It’s huge. When first found it, I could barely believe my eyes.”

“I’d love to see that.” Armin got this dreamy look on his face. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around that you came from the sky.” All the sudden, his eyes snapped back to them. “Is it true, all the stuff that’s out there? Is there really giant bodies of water with tons of salt in them?”

Pidge was taken off guard by this question. It hadn’t occurred to her that these people wouldn’t know anything about outside the walls. “Yes, actually, 80 percent of this planet is water, and the largest bodies are called oceans. The oceans are the ones with salt water.”

“What about the lands of ice?” Eren piped up. Pidge nodded. Almost an hour went by of this game of question and answer, the three, well, mainly the two boys, asking about the outside world, and the Paladins doing their best to explain. With every answer, their eyes became wider and their voices more and more excited.

“The book…”Armin said, looking at the ground, trying to process. “It was right…my parents were right.”

“Now we _have_ to get out there.” Eren clenched his fist. “I’m going to close that gate, we’ll beat the Titans, and we’re going to see it all. I swear it.”

“You need to close the hole in the gate, right?” Lance asked. “They said something about a Titan shifter. I take it you’re counting on them to do it.”

Eren looked away. “Yea. They’re counting on me.”

Pidge was the one to widen her eyes this time. “Wait, you’re the shifter?”

Eren looked up and nodded. “Yes. But I didn’t know about it until a few weeks ago. As far as I know, I was born human.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Pidge saw Keith twitch. Understandable. Eren wasn’t the only one in this group who wasn’t human. She focused back on the soldiers, “That must be hard.”

Surprise echoed across their faces, as if they weren’t expecting that to be her reaction. “What?” she asked.

“Normally people get a little…” Armin glanced away then back again. “Distanced after we tell them.” Pidge had figured. Though all this stuff wasn’t really shocking to her, a person who’s been to other planets and fought giant monsters as a living, the people here must find it alarming.

“We’ve seen quite a lot.” Keith explained. “And if it makes you feel better, I just recently found out that I’m not completely human too.” Suddenly, all attention was on Keith. He shrugged. “I can understand where you stand. You can take the form of a Titan, the form of your enemy. I’m part Galra, which is the aliens we’re fighting. Kind of ironic, don’t you think?”

“Crazy things happen in war.” For the first time, the girl, Mikasa, was the one to answer. “Such in the nature of the world. Things have to change, evolve, to overcome challenges. It’s what makes us human.”

Pidge thought on that for a second. She was human, and she still thought of Keith as human. Hunk, though he cracked jokes about the Galra half, accepted it wholly. Lance, well, it didn’t even seem like he cared at all. The Paladins had no problem with this discovery.

“I’m gonna guess that you’ve had some trouble with people being scared of you, right?” Pidge asked.

They all nodded, Eren most of all. “I still basically have to sleep in the dungeon. In case I go Titan in my sleep. And before that, the Military Police wanted to dissect me. If it wasn’t for Commander Erwin and Captain Levi, I probably wouldn’t be alive right now.”

“But we proved you to be useful!” Armin quickly pipped up. “You can close that wall, we know you can!” As she watched the expressions on Armin and Mikasa’s faces, she realized they were the same to Eren as the other Paladins were to Keith. Unwavering support. Pidge smiled.

“That will change.” Pidge promised. “I know it seems like they’ll never trust you, but they will. Once they realize that you’re still…you, a human, it’ll get better.”

Eren closed his eyes. “I think your right. The Levi Squad, they were assigned to keep an eye on me. I trust them, and I’m pretty sure they’re beginning to have faith in me.”

“They were the people with you when we first appeared, right?” Lance said. He had been relatively quiet until now, but finally spoke up. “I’m sorry, I saw you friend get…I should have done something.”

“You did do something.” Mikasa corrected. “The Female Titan might have killed them all, but you stopped her. Thank you.”

It was then that Pidge realized why Lance was quiet. Duh, of course, he felt guilty about their friend’s death. But why? There was nothing he could have done, no way he could have known. Pidge watched his face, wondering what the heck was going on with him.

“We’re going to help you stop the Female Titan.” Lance wasn’t looking at them, but there was a powerful anger in his voice. “I’m not going to let her get away with all she’s done.

Pidge turned back to Eren, Armin and Mikasa. “Same goes for me.” The other two Paladins nodded in approval. The young soldiers smiled with a determined look on their faces.

Soon after, Levi returned and commanded Eren to go get some sleep. After the three friend dispersed, Levi lead the Paladins to a room inside the castle. Bed waited for them. He told them that the morning would bring a meeting that would inform them of the plan of action. With that, he left them. Pidge wasted no time getting into the bed. It was hard, and the cotton was itchy, but she had no trouble passing into sleep.


	11. Hunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I, like the genius I am, hurt my hand, and couldn't write for a few days. But here it is.

Hunk didn’t know what to expect, when it came to Erwin’s master plan. Unfortunately, it looked like they wouldn’t get the chance to find out. Whatever the Scouts had been planning, it seems they didn’t consult the other branches of their military about any of it. Which lead to the Paladins waking up to the load clomping of hooves echoing off of the walls of the courtyard.

Hunk peered outside the small window of the room, overlooking the dozens of new soldiers dismounting. They didn’t have the green capes like the Scouts did. Instead, on their backs, where a wing symbol of the Scouts had been replaced by the head of a unicorn.

He turned to his friends. “Uh guys. New development.”

The remaining three gathered around the window to watch. By this time, several Scouts, including Levi and Hange, had met what appeared to be the leader of the newcomers.

“Nile Dock.” Hange said in an enthusiastic voice, like she was greeting on old friend, though the look on Nile’s face said otherwise. “What a pleasure? Never thought to see you all the way out here? Thought you were an inner ring guy.”

“Things tend to change.” The man’s voice was accusatory. “Especially when you people let in an unknown element inside our walls. You have any idea what the hell those are?!” He pointed to the Lions, which could just be seen on the other side of the castle walls.

“Sure we do!” Hange said brightly. Suddenly, her face became that of deadest confidence. “They’re a force that could change the tide of this war.”

Nile was twisted with anger. “First this Titan child, and now this! The Scouts have no idea what they’re getting into. You may bring the downfall of humanity, with your experiments and risks.”

“And what would have us do?” Captain Levi, though much shorter than the others, seemed to dominate the conversation. “While you hide inside the inner walls, scared to ever face the enemy, we fight and die to give humanity the upper hand. You expect us to stay true to tactics and means that lead us onto to ruin? We make the best decisions based on what we have. Those who are to cowardly to make a stand have no place criticizing those who will.”

“That’s enough, Levi.” Suddenly, Commander Erwin was on the scene. “Though you argue a valid point. Now Nile,” He turned to the aggressor. “What do you plan to do now?”

“I’ll start by asking, what they hell are they?” He growled. “I get a report that four massive super weapons, strong enough to leap over the wall in a single bound, were allowed inside without any resistance. No explanation! As Commander of the Military Police, it’s my responsibility to protect the King! You are endangering not only the Royal Family, but all of humanity!”

“Really?” Levi cut in. “Because, from our view, we’re saving it.” He jerked his head towards the Lions. “And what you also didn’t realize, these weapons, they’re captained by _humans_. They’re out there, some other civilization, with science far beyond our own.”

Hunk winced. He glanced back at Keith. Well mostly human. Keith hadn’t turn purple quite yet, but Hunk was waiting with a camera.

“These things are like ships?” Nile gaped. “And where, may I ask, are these captains?

“Inside.” Hange smiled again. “And we already have plans for them. Finders keepers!” She was almost laughing. “And I believe they call themselves Paladins. And why don’t they join us?” Without warning, she was looking directly at them. Nile whipped around to lock in on the small window where the four teens where intently watching. There was a look of astonishment on the MP man’s face. Hunk waved, but was quickly yanked inside by Keith.

The four started down the stairs, following Keith. He looked a bit pale, nervous. Hunk understood. The Scouts might be a bit eccentric and crazy, but at least they wanted to help. These MP guys, they didn’t look like they would even consider a compromise. As much Hunk wanted to save these people from the Titans, they’re number one mission was still to find Shiro. Now it looked like it wouldn’t work out quite like they hoped.

As they exited the castle, Hunk rounded a corner and crashed right into Eren, who was flanked by Mikasa and Armin. Exchanging worried looks, the group together walked out into the sunlight, into the accusatory eyes of the MP’s.

Hange, Erwin and Levi waited for them to approach. Hunk walked side by side with Eren. He seemed tight, like he was ready for an attack. Quickly, the Yellow Paladin check behind him, where Mikasa and Armin both carried the same looks. Obviously, something set them on edge, but what?

Nile turned to Erwin. “As Commander of the Military Police, I declare that this is a matter of security, and therefore both the Titan shifter, and these outsiders are to be taken into custody.” Without warning, he motioned for several of his soldiers to advance on the group. Hunk saw Keith stop, jumping into a defensive stance, hand summoning his Bayard, but not transforming. On instinct, the rest did the same, at the ready. Hunk looked at Keith who was looking at Erwin. Both waited for some sort of sign.

Erwin locked eyes with the group. “Eren! Plan B! Get the Paladins to their craft. We do this now!” Hunk felt Eren grab his shoulder and pulled him back toward the castle entrance. “Plan B?” He asked. “What’s Plan B?”

“She’s here.” Mikasa hissed, while pushing Pidge and Lance along with her. “The Female Titan. Now go!”

Hunk glanced back. Keith was following, but the MP’s were gaining on them. One reached out and latched her arm onto his shoulder. Hunk watched as Keith’s Bayard sprung to life, and he took a swipe at the soldier holding him. She stepped back, but the tip slashed her hand, blood dripping down. She tossed her blonde hair out of her face, revealing the eyes of a predator, staring down her prey. They were locked on Eren.

Hunk heard Armin yell out behind him. “Annie! No! You don’t have to do this!”

The girl stopped for a second, and in that moment, Hunk recognized her. They eyes the hair, the same ones that Lance had slammed into in the woods, but several times larger.

Annie glared at the group, Keith standing ready to fight. The other MPs got closer. She looked down for a second. Over the clamor of the chaos, Hunk heard her say, “Oh, Armin, I do.”

A flash of blinding light shattered the courtyard.


	12. Lance

Lance was lucky that he thought to put his shield up, because within seconds of him ducking behind it, a large slab of stone smashed into the shield. The force of the impact tossed him backwards, and he crashed hard into the wall on the edge of the courtyard. He felt his head bounce of the stone. As the light died down, the stars in his vision did not. He rubbed his head as he opened his eyes.

The courtyard was all but destroyed. A giant woman, the Female Titan, loomed like a menacing skyscraper. Rocks and debris were scattered around. Behind a fallen, scorched tree, Lance spotted what looked like a body, which had been flung and impaled on the splinters. That’s when he realized, the MP’s, they had been right next to the blast. They had felt the hit like a bomb went off. Lance groaned and stood up, Bayard still in hand. _Anyone close to her,_ his mind concluded, _the MP’s and…_

In a terrifying moment, his heart stopped. “KEITH!” Where was he? Lance, completely ignoring the Titan that towered above them, frantically scanned around for any sign of his friend. There. Lying down, beside several large rocks, not moving, Keith had been tossed to the other side of courtyard.

Lance didn’t think, he couldn’t. His body took over, ignoring his dizzy mind, and charged towards him. He had to get past that Titan, he had to save Keith. _Please be alive_ , his mind screamed, _you have to be alive._

He ran right at the giant woman, intending to go straight between her legs. However, she reached down to grab him. Lance, reacting with almost lightning speed, called on his Bayard. Stopping only for a second, he aimed the rifle in the small gap between her fingers, and fired. Right on target, true to the sharpshooter title, the blast hit her right eye, sending up a cloud of steam. On instinct, the hand withdrew for a second, and Lance fired and second shot, destroying her left eye.

Taking his chance, Lance dove between her legs. In a heartbeat, he was by Keith’s side, grabbing his shoulder, rolling him over onto his back. “Keith!” Lance yelled. “Keith, common!”

Lance heard Keith moan and shifted his head. A stream of blood ran down from his forehead. He had been hit, hard. “Keith, common! We don’t have time!”

“Lance?” One eye opened and looked up. Lance felt a wave of relief. He was still alive.

“We have to move!” Lance commanded, wrapping one of Keith’s arms around his shoulder, propping his up like two soldiers in a movie. “We have to get to the Lions!”

A shadow moved over. Lance looked up to see the hand of the Titan had returned. It was coming down fast, ready to crush them. Lance tried to move, but Keith weighed him down. He rose and fell, crashing into the stone. Fear overtook him. _This is it._

A flash of purple light filled the area, cutting away the shadow. Lance opened his eyes. The massive hand, now limply lying on the ground, blood pooling up where it had been severed. Lance blinked a few times, not understanding. _Wait,_ Lance thought, _how did…?_

Suddenly, the other side of Keith was being raised up. Lance snapped his head up.

“Shiro!”

There he was, the Black Paladin, pulling on the other arm of Keith around his shoulder. “Common!” He yelled. “Move!”

Responding fast to the commands of their leader, Lance forced himself upright, supporting Keith’s other side. Together, they rushed towards the doorway in the castle. Within a few steps, Pidge and Hunk fell in. Step for step.

Lance looked back for a second. The Female Titan, though surprised by Shiro’s attack, recovered. She swung her remaining hand at the group. Lance braced himself, but Hunk turned fast, opening up a barrage from his cannon, blasting several hard shots into her chest. The force pushed her back. With that, they made it to the door and ducked inside.

“Wait!” Lance called. “The Scouts! They’re still back there!” Shiro stopped.

“The Scouts?” He panted. “You mean those soldiers?”

“Yea.” Pidge was also out of breath, and leaned against her knees.

“The Lions…” Keith was the one to speak. He still hung from Shiro and Lance’s shoulders, but raised his head. “We can save them if we have the Lions.”

“You mean I can.” Lance corrected. “You can’t fight like this.”

“Pidge.” Shiro commanded. “You take Lance’s place holding Keith. Hunk, you’re cannon has the most effect of her. Hold her off, don’t let her kill the soldiers. Lance, you run ahead. Get your Lion, and shut her down.”

Lance nodded, quickly switching places with Pidge, and taking off down the hall. Looking back, he saw Hunk re-enter the courtyard, his cannon flashing. Pidge and Shiro carefully pulled Keith, heading for the Lions. Lance kept going, racing as fast as he could.

Within moments, he was at the Blue Lion, which opened its maw to receive him. However, as he entered, lightning lit up the sky again, causing him to turn back. He could see the top of the Female Titan. And now, another rose, a Titan with brown hair and pointed ears. All of his teeth were showing in a nasty grin. And unlike the Female Titan, this one had skin and a look to kill.

_It must be Eren_. A new rage welled up inside him. Lance turned back and dashed into the cockpit, grabbing the joysticks. The Blue Lion roared in response, shaking the entire area. Lance narrowed his eyes at the Titan that hurt his friend. “My turn.”


	13. Keith

His head felt like someone had taken a mallet to it. Not a nice feeling. Keith felt Shiro and Pidge dragging him slowly through the hall. Though his brain had been thoroughly scrambled, he was able to assess the situation to a limited degree.

With some effort, he picked his head up. “Shiro…” He groaned. “Where have you been? How… how did you find us?”

“I woke up inside the wall a few weeks ago. I’ve been hiding out in an abandoned mill, trying to figure out how to get back. But you all made quite the entrance,” Shiro explained. “Everyone in the city was talking about the giant metal monsters that had flown over the wall. I figured it must have been you guys. It took me a while to figure out where you were, and get here. I’m glad I made it in time.”

“We’re glad you made it in time, too.” Pidge huffed. “God, I thought Lance and Keith were going to get mashed.”

_Lance._ Keith closed his eyes and tried to clear his jumbled thoughts. _That’s right. He risked his life to save me. I mean, we’re always risking our lives, but that was really dangerous. I never knew he would do that… not for me, at least._

“Well, its clear Lance is a lunatic.” Shiro said. “But definitely a Paladin.” Keith smiled. A truer statement had never been said.

Behind them, Keith could hear Hunk yelling out some Altean insult while blasting away. Interrupting his onslaught, a bright flash of light, another blast, lit up the hall. The three stopped for a second, and as the light faded away, Keith’s fuzzy vision could just make out a massive skinned foot pass in front of the doorway, then stepping out of sight.

“What the heck was that?” Shiro asked, baffled. “I saw it before. Is that a Titan?”

Pidge nodded. “Yea, but I think that one’s on our side. The Scouts have a Titan shifter, too.”

Shiro looked like her still had more questions, but Keith pulled his arm out of his leader’s grip. “I have to help…” He took another step forward, freeing his other arm from Pidge. “Hunk, he still back there. The Scouts…they need our help…” He took step forward. His leg were wobbly, and he started to fall. Shiro and Pidge rushed forward, holding him back up.

“Easy.” Shiro commanded. “You’re in no condition to fight. Besides, Lance is already…” He was cut off but the thunderous roar of a Lion. “See? Lance has them covered.”

“Let’s get you to the Red Lion.” Pidge suggested. “There’s no way that Titan can hurt him in there.” Shiro nodded and again began to pull him the opposite direction. This time, Keith was able to prop himself up a small amount, using his feet to walk with his two supports.

“Hang on a second.” Pidge stopped. She stooped backwards, grabbed Keith’s helmet, which was hooked to his belt, and carefully placed it on his head. She did the same for herself. “Let’s not get wacked in the head again.”

Suddenly, the radio crackled to life. “Guys come in!” Hunk’s voice rand out. “Has Keith gotten to the Lions yet?”

“Not yet.” Shiro, who had arrived with his helmet on, like a smart person, responded. “He’s getting better though. His injury must not have been as bad as we thought.”

“Must be that Galra blood.” Hunk snuck in the comment. “It’s coming in handy.”

Keith may have been smashed in the head, but he still had the energy to snap back. “Oh shut up.”

“Yea, he sounds okay.” Hunk laughed. “Listen, Commander Erwin, he says we might have to get the hell out of dodge once this is over. The MP’s are after us. Lance should be able to take down the Female Titan, but you guys need to be in your Lions, ready to go.”

“Rodger.” Pidge responded.

Keith narrowed his eyes. Commander Erwin, in the middle of a full blown disaster, was covering all the angles. He was, to be honest, incredible. A more serious version of Shiro. The Paladins had gotten really lucky, meeting the Scouts. As they exited the end of the hallway, Keith winced at the light. As his eyes adjusted, the shape for the Red Lion greeted him.

“Pidge, Keith, get in your Lions.” Shiro ordered. “I’m going back to help Hunk.”

Keith pulled himself off of Pidge. “I can walk.” Standing on his own feet, Keith started toward the Red Lion. “I’m going to finish off this Titan, and do whatever I have to to save these people.”


	14. Hunk

It wasn’t fun, for sure, or even easy, to charge back into that courtyard and occupy the same space as a gigantic murderous woman. But Hunk did it, insanely. Before becoming a Paladin, he would have suggested a million other options than personally placing himself in an enclosed area with a monster. But that was then and this was now. As he skidded to a stop in the doorway of the courtyard, all he could think was, _how the years have gone by._

Annie, Hunk recalled the name, was picking herself up out of the wall on the opposite side. _What happened?_   Hunk thought. They certainly didn’t push her back like that. No, Hunk looked down and noticed that the huge tendon that attached the foot to the leg had been sliced clean through.

Although she could have used her hands, which had miraculously returned, to prop herself up, she was covering the back of her neck. Hunk soon learned why. A zipping sound filled the air. Hunk could barely make it out, but a flash of green whipped by, carving a path of blood across the Female Titan’s eyes. The flash stopped on the rooftop of the castle.

“Captain Levi!” The blur of green which had been an actual human, turned to face him.

“You’ve got that cannon?” He called out. Hunk hoisted it up. “Light her up!” Levi ordered. “Don’t give her a chance to strike back!”

Hunk leveled his Bayard at the Titan, and pulled the trigger. Blasts of yellow light erupted from the barrel, the force slamming the Female Titan back into the hole in the wall where she had landed before. Steam filled the area, emanating from the wounds.

“Concentrate on her neck.” Levi had almost flown down next to Hunk, using his gear to slow his fall. “That’s where the human controls the Titan body.” Hunk adjusted his aim.

Levi moved towards the wall, where a pile of rubble had started moving. Hunk watched, still firing, as the rocks shifted again. Suddenly, Mikasa and Armin appeared, pulling Eren, who looked a lot like Keith did, with blood streaming down his head.

“Eren.” Levi’s voice, although mostly calm, had an obvious annoyance inside. “Get moving. You’ve got a job to do. We’re ending this, here and now.”

“I tried.” Eren held up his hand, which was also bleeding, but from what looked like bite marks.  “I can’t”

“You have to.” Armin begged. “We have to beat Annie.”

“But…”

“Eren,” Mikasa cut him off. “Annie is an enemy. Get that through your head.”

“We don’t have time to pretend that it might not be true.” Levi sounded super pissed. Hunk certainly wouldn’t want to be in Eren’s place. “You were ready to take her on back in the forest. Nothing has changed, except the fact that we know the name of the monster who murdered dozens of Scouts. You’re going to just let them die in vain because you don’t have the guts to accept it?”

Hunk watched as Eren stared down at his hand. His expression changed, eyes narrowing, a deep anger pooling up. “Step back, guys” He told his friends.

They released him. Hunk turned back to the Female Titan, who had stopped covering her neck and was trying to shield herself from the cannons onslaught. Hunk glanced back to see Eren bite down onto his hand, and another flash of light filled the area. In its place, Eren’s Titan formed emerged, roaring like a Lion.

“Whoa.” Hunk, despite everything had seen since leaving Earth, was still a pretty impressed.  Eren, relling back his giant fist, rushed the Female Titan. Hunk stopped his assault just as he reached her, and Eren slammed his fist into her exposed head, right on the temple.

She crumpled, falling sideways. But her foot swung hard as she came down, taking Eren’s legs out from underneath him. He fell backwards, crashing into another wall. The Female was steaming from all her wounds, but they seemed to be closing, healing far too fast. It was clear she had lots of training in martial arts. That would make it difficult.

However, as she stood again, a roar, even louder than Eren’s shook the Earth. Hunk, recognizing the sound, grinned and looked up. Over the rooftop, he spotted the Blue Lion, rearing its head, it’s eyes locking onto the Female Titan. She turned to face him.

Hunk couldn’t help but think, _Oh, you remember your good friend the Blue Lion?_   He watched as the Lion opened its maw, and the sound of the laser powering up filled the air.

“What’s it…” Levi’s voice reached Hunk’s ears.

He called back, “Brace yourselves! It’s about to get chilly out here!” With that, Lance let loose a freezing blast, hitting the Female Titan dead on. The ice spread like a virus, encasing her entire body. She was frozen, one arm covering her name, the other in a failed attempted to block. The expression on her face of utter terror. Hunk smiled. Obviously she wasn’t expecting that.

Suddenly, the three, Petra, Oluo, and Erd, the Levi Squad they had been called, appeared from nowhere at the Captain side. They were carrying Nile, who appeared to be unconscious. The Commander followed swiftly, leveling eyes with Hunk. “I didn’t realize your machines could do that.”

“Commander,” Hunk said, “You haven’t seen half of what we can do.” An image of Voltron flashed through his head. If only Erwin could see that.

“You need to get to your craft.” He said quickly. “She may be stopped for now, but it’s very likely that she has allies. That and the Military Police is going to be after you. They won’t help you, trust me.”

Hunk nodded and relayed the conversation back to the other Paladins. Once done, he looked back up at the Female Titan. She was like the world’s most terrifying sculpture. A monster trapped in ice. A snapping sound filled the air. Right before his eyes, a crack in the ice refracted the sculpture. Steam began to seep out.

“Damn!” Levi hissed. “Her body’s too hot. It’s melting the ice!” Sure enough, almost as soon as he said that, the tower of ice shattered, revealing a very angry Titan. But instead of fighting, Annie smashed Eren’s unexpecting Titan in the jaw with her elbow, turned and tried to climb over the wall. But she was worn down, much slower than before. Levi swung into action, his maneuvering gear carrying him up, and he sliced of a large portion of her right shoulder, where the joint connects the arm. With a useless arm, her other was barely holder her up, her head just clearing the top of the roof.

Hunk heard the sound of the Lion’s laser again. This time, it was an energy beam, catching her exposed head in the line of fire, just clearing the top of the castle.

The now headless creature fell, toppling to the ground. Steam rolled over the courtyard, making it hard to see. Hunk could just make out the shape of the fallen Titan, the skeleton amoungst the cloud. And what looked like large rock. But when the steam began to clear, it wasn’t a rock. It was a diamond. A huge diamond that wrapped around Annie’s human body like a tomb.

The Scout’s gather around, staring at it like it was an insult to them. “After everything we’ve dealt with…” Petra moaned. “And this is the only thing we have to show for it?”

“No.” Commander Erwin shook his head. “We have much more than we did before.” He glanced back at Hunk. “You need to go. Nile won’t stay unconscious forever, and you need to get you machines somewhere hidden in that time. Quickly. We’ll find you again. But for now, we must part ways.”

Hunk wanted to say that it was okay, that they’re leader had just miraculously appeared, but he kept quiet. Instead, he just nodded to the soldiers, and rushed of towards the exit. Still, the Female Titan vanquished, Shiro reunited with the team, all he could wonder was, _what the heck do we do now?_


	15. Pidge

By the time Pidge was able to get to her Lion, the fight was over. The Female Titan had disappeared into a cloud of steam, all that remained was a diamond-like crystal that had encased Annie’s entire body. But Pidge still couldn’t make sense of it all. Why would Annie, a human, try to destroy her own race? Why go through such measures to kidnap Eren? And even more importantly, they found Shiro, the group was back together, so what now? All these question buzzed around in her head. It was driving her crazy, as someone who doesn’t feel complete until she’s taken everything apart, and understood every detail. But instead of answers, a massive whole in her knowledge itched away.

“Shiro?” Pidge asked into the radio, as she sat down in the Green Lion’s chair. “What are we doing?” Their leader had gone back to help Hunk, but something must have interrupted him, since the fight was already over.

There was static on the other end, until his voice finally responded. “Hunk is almost to his Lion. I’m going to hide out around here. You guys go, get on the other side of the wall with your Lions. Once the coast is clear, I’ll get into contact with these Scouts you told me about. I get the feeling we’ll need their help if we want to get anywhere.”

“Shiro!” Lance’s voice complained. “We just found you again and you want us to separate?”

“It’s just temporary.” Shiro explained. “Hunk said we need to get the Lions out of here as fast as possible. They need to hide, but we have to stay in contact with the Scouts. The Black Lion isn’t here, so I can stay back without drawing to much attention. Besides, the Military Police only know about four Paladins. Once the Lions are gone, they won’t coming looking for me. After they leave, I’ll talk to the Scouts and see what to do from there.”

There was a silence on the other end, a tension. Although Pidge didn’t like it, the logic was sound. “Alright.” She mumbled. “Common guys.” To her right, she saw the Yellow Lion straighten up. Hunk was inside. She pulled her Lion away from the castle, and started towards the wall. Pidge sighed. Shiro would be fine, he survived this long, he could handle himself for just another day.

It took seconds to make it to the wall and with a giant leap, the Green Lion found itself perching on the top of the structure. Pidge tilted the head of the Lion to gaze back at the castle. The image zoomed in. Pidge saw Hange, standing on the rooftop, watching the Lions. As if she had known that Pidge was watching her, Hange raised her hand and waved. Hange was smiling, smiling like the sun had just come out after weeks of rain. Pidge wished in everything that she could wave back. Instead, she felt the Green Lion ever so slightly nod its head, before diving back over the wall.

The Paladins took refuge in a nearby forest, parking the Lions close to that when they exited, Pidge could jump over to the others with just a little help from the jetpack. The ride there was quiet, no one spoke, just followed the Red Lion. Keith, thankfully, had recovered enough to pilot. But even so, Pidge got the feeling that everyone was a bit shaken. If Shiro hadn’t come in at just the right moment, two Paladins would have been dead. And the bodies, the bodies in the courtyard after the Female Titan transformed, Pidge couldn’t get the image out of her head.

Pidge found it to be a nightmare, just sitting and waiting around. Occasionally, a Titan would wonder by, looking like a daydreamer lost in thought. But this time, Pidge knew. It was looking for a human to eat. She shuttered.

Eventually, she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore, or she would lose her mind. “Guys…” she called into the microphone, “What do they want? The Titans? That Annie person? What could possibly be driving them…to do all this?”

Pidge could almost feel the boys looking back at the wall, which could be seen from their hiding place. There was a long pause before Keith answered, “Pidge. I honestly have no idea. The Titans… they’re not like the Galra. They aren’t after anything. They don’t even need humans to survive. They just… do it because. And as for Annie, I can’t imagine what would drive her to murder her comrades. It doesn’t make sense to me either.”

Although she had no more answers than before, it somehow felt comforting to know that everyone else was just as lost. Pidge sighed. She looked back out at the wall. The sun was almost concealed as the land began to swallow it.

As they found, with the coming of night, the Titan’s also stopped. Just before the sun fell away, Pidge watched a Titan, sluggish and wobbly, teeter out of sight.

When Hunk pointed it out, Pidge answered. “They use sunlight. Hange told me. When the sun goes down, they lose energy. I guess that mean we can leave the Lions if we want too. I could use some air.” The others agreed, and each exited on the top, stepping out in the cool nighttime. Standing between the Green Lion’s ears, Pidge watched as each of her friends did the same. She looked down, the memory of Hange waving passed through her mind. Suddenly, she looked up.

“Guys, we have to help these people.” She said in earnest. “They need us. We don’t even need Voltron to stop the Titans. We’re not going to just abandon the Scouts, right?”

Lance’s answer came as a quick, “Of course.” Keith and Hunk, however, just looked away.

“You can be serious?” Pidge demanded. “You want to just leave them to get pulverized by these monsters? We’re Paladins! We don’t do that! We’ve never done that!”

“I know.” Keith still wouldn’t look at her. He had a bandage wrapped around his head. “Believe me, I want to help them as much as you do. But you have to remember.” He looked up and matched her gaze. “We already have our own war. It’s not just about humanity. It’s about the whole universe. This isn’t the Earth we grew up on. This isn’t our universe. We can’t let our feelings get in the way of protecting all the people who are counting on us.”

“But these people are counting on us too!” Lance growled. He looked at Hunk. “I can’t believe you’re with this.”

Hunk seemed to be very interested in a scratch on the Yellow Lions head. “I don’t want to leave them hanging, but we have prior commitments. All the people we freed, and especially all the ones we haven’t. Zarkon might be gone, but now we have his wonderful, tyrannical son Lotor to deal with. I don’t want to abandon our own universe into his reign.”

Pidge realized he was thinking about Shay. If the Paladins stayed, she and her people would doomed to be conquered and enslaved by the Galra again. Suddenly, the painful thread of memories, that of her father, her brother, her mother. The thought of them being stranded with no hope, all because she couldn’t keep her feelings under control. Crestfallen, Pidge sighed.

“We’ll do what we can while trying to find a way back.” Keith assured. “But we can’t stay. I know Shiro will agree with me.”

Reluctantly, Pidge nodded. The meeting was adjourned, and Pidge made her way back to the entrance of the Green Lion. Before she went inside, she found herself looking back up at the sky. The stars, although it was a different universe, were the same. She could make out the constellations, Orion, the Dippers, and hundreds more. But unlike their Earth, Pidge could see every star. There was no light pollution, nothing to clog up the clarity of the night sky. Still, it felt comforting to be sleeping under such familiar stars.

Pidge blinked once. For a second she thought she saw… She squinted to focus. No. She hadn’t imagined it. Crossing the sky, lights moved. They were far too fast to be shooting stars. They moved in formation, it reminded Pidge of whenever she saw a plane fly over. She squinted harder, and her heart stopped.

“Guys!” She screamed. “It’s the Galra!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLOT TWIST! GOT YA!


	16. Shiro

Hiding out in tree wasn’t his best plan ever, and certainly wasn’t his most comfortable, but Shiro could do much to change that. He needed to wait for the MPs to leave. Whoever this Scout Commander was, Erwin, the team had said, finding him was essential. The Paladins couldn’t just hide outside the wall forever. They needed a strategy, and supplies. Shiro was barely able to survive on his own, but now he was again the leader of Voltron. He was his job to ensure success.

It took until almost nightfall before he saw MPs, or the remainder of them, leave. Through the leafy branches of the trees, his perch a little way from the castle gate, the horses galloped past him on the trail, carrying the soldiers away. Shiro was sure to take into account the symbol on their uniforms, a unicorn. Good, they had finally left, now was the time to meet up with the Scouts.

He dropped out of the tree, crunching the undergrowth below. Making his way alongside the path, still hiding, just in case, he reached the entrance. Quietly, as if it were a Galra ship, he slipped inside.

Once he made it to the courtyard, he stopped and checked around. The crystal person was still there, but covered in a cloth tarp. Upon seeing the coast was clear, he approached the mound for further inspection. This was supposedly the woman who tried to kill Keith and Lance. A human, or something like it. Shiro couldn’t even imagine what would drive her to do all this.

There was a sharp zipping sound and a voice, “One more step, and you’re done.” Shiro turned to face the end of a long blade, leveled at his by a short, but incredibly murderous face.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say you’re Levi?” Shiro asked.

The look turned from murderous to wary. “Are you with those kids?” Shiro nodded. Levi let his blade down by his side. “You’re the one they’re looking for. You jumped in and saved them earlier. What are you doing here if you’ve already been reunited?”

“Well….” Shiro sighed. He tried to explain that they were still kinda stuck, without giving away that they were from another universe.

It was hard, but eventually, Levi nodded. “They didn’t seem like the type to just take off. Common, you’re going to have to talk to Commander Erwin. We can figure out a plan of action from there…”

But as he turned around, a blonde-haired man, much taller than Levi, approached. He had the look of a leader.

“From the looks of your uniform.” The man asked. “You’re Shiro. I’m Commander Erwin of the Scouting Regiment.”

Shiro nodded. “The other Paladins are just on the other side of the wall, waiting to see what our next move should be.”

Erwin smiled. “It’s good to know that you all stuck around. We appreciate it.”

_Not like we’ve got much choice,_ Shiro thought. But he kept quiet as Erwin continued. “Lance helped beat the Female Titan. But we’re not done. We still have the Armored and Colossal Titans to deal with. We could really use your assistance.”

“We’ll do our best.” Shiro promised. But the nagging thought was still in his head. Voltron still had their own mission, they’re own war. As much as Shiro wanted to help, he couldn’t lose sight of the ultimate objective. He just hoped the team saw that, too.

As if on cue, on the radio of his helmet, which was hooked to his belt, Pidge’s voice screamed out. “Shiro! Shiro, we’ve got a situation! The Galra! They’re here!”

Panic set in like weight. On instinct, Shiro looked up, his eyes locking onto a moving patch of lights, coming straight for the castle. It was just passing over the wall, some hundred feet above it. It would be there is a matter of seconds. And there was no way would it overlook the Scouts base. All the torches lit it up like a Christmas tree.

“Shit.”

He whipped back to the Scouts, who had turned to lead him inside. He yelled out. “Hey! We need to evacuate! Now!”

They turned, confused. Shiro desperately tried to explain. “The Galra, our enemies. They’re here! They’ll attack this place and reduce it to rubble. You all have to leave now!”

“Your friends said they would never come here!” Levi protested. But he was moving, already running towards the castle’s doorway.

“We didn’t think it was possible they could be here.” He looked back up. The Galra ship, it was too close. From it, Shiro could see it deploy its fighters. Shiro’s heart pumped violently, too fast, it was happening too fast. They wouldn’t escape.

The fighters zoomed low over the castle, firing at random. The building exploded in several spots, debris rained down. A large chunk came at Shiro, using his cyborg arm, he cut it apart, and it showered the ground around him.

The fighters were coming in for a second round. Shiro ran for cover, trying to pull the two Scouts with him. Glancing behind him, the fighters let loose a barrage of missiles. They were headed right for them. Shiro closed his eyes and braced himself.

A loud boom of impact shook the area, rattling the ground. But Shiro still felt alive, as well as the Commander and Levi. Shiro heard Levi’s voice. “Close call.”

Shiro opened his eyes. Standing above him, the Black Lion shielded the three men. Shiro didn’t understand how, but somehow, his companion had found him. Just like millions of times before, the Lion opened its maw to accept its Paladin, and Shiro raced into the cockpit. “Thanks.” He said, smiling. Shiro could almost hear the Black Lion purr its approval. He launched into the sky, blasting apart another barrage of missiles.

“Form jaw blade!” He yelled. As the Lion rocketed towards the Galra ship, the long blade ripped apart fighters that tried to intercept. Shiro felt the impact in his skull when he smashed into the hull of the Galra ship. He smiled. It was just one ship, this would be easy.

Next was the ion cannon. Blasting full force, the Black Lion, flew up and carved the jaw blade, cleaving the cannon in half. It blew in a cloud of yellow, lighting up the night sky.

“Shiro!” Keith’s voice echoed in his head. The head of the Lion swiveled and caught four Voltron Lions, flying straight at him.

“Alright team!” Shiro commanded. “Let’s send them to hell. Form Voltron!”

On cue, the Lions began to change, morphing into arms, legs and body. A surge rippled up Shiro’s spine as the pieces connected, five becoming one. When the surge ended, Voltron’s blasters lit up the sky.

“Form sword!” Shiro yelled. Keith and Pidge’s Lions clapped together, and pulled out a huge sword. Shiro, with all the Paladins, sunk the sword into the hull of the ship, all the way up to the hilt. The swung upwards, ripping the ship in half. The ship exploded, raining fire down from the sky.   


	17. Keith

It was safe to say they got lucky. Lucky that Shiro had been with the Scouts when the Galra attacked. Lucky that the Black Lion had magically shown up when it did. Lucky that it was only one ship. Everything the Paladins did seemed to be based on luck. Keith however, wasn’t known for his optimism, and he knew the luck was bound to run out soon.

He was still a little bit dizzy from the bash to the head. But as the Red Lion hung from the body of Voltron, he began to feel strength flow into him. He always felt that way when they combined. It was as if the others were sharing their energy with him.

“So guys…” Pidge’s voice was the first to break the silence. “Just as an aside, I think we should just start every fight by forming Voltron. It makes things so much faster.” Everyone responded with a collective groan.

“So now what?” Hunk asked over the radio. Keith rolled his eyes. They had been asking that question all night long. He felt the need to answer, but then realized that Shiro was present, and left it up to him.

“Well, one thing we should do,” Shiro started. “Is figure out how that Galra ship got here in the first place… and how the Black Lion got here, too.”

“I have several theories…” Lance started. “Maybe this world has their own Galra and their own Voltron and they have alternate versions of us and….”

“Or.” Keith said, cutting him off before their IQ’s dropped several points. “They followed us here somehow. Maybe they found that Universal Rip, or heck, maybe they made their own.”

“That’s all possible,” Shiro said. “But where did the Black Lion come from?”

“The Red Lion found me from several galaxies away.” Keith offered. “Maybe he sensed you through the Universal Rip. We got a signal a few days ago.”

“You guys actually got that?” Shiro asked. “I thought it was just a desperate attempt that didn’t work.”

“Barely,” Hunk admitted. “It was really faint. Maybe the Black Lion followed the Galra through.”

“Uh guys?” Lance’s voice cut through the conversation.

“Not now, Lance,” Pidge commanded.

“No guys!” His voice was panicked. “The ship was just a scout! Look!”

Voltron turned. Coming at them as a beast, flying up to meet them. Trying to defend, Keith raised the sword to parry. But the beast, which looked like a sea monster from the movies, brought and armored fin down on them. Voltron lost altitude fast, crashing into the ground, way too close to the Scout’s castle.

“That ship was just to draw us out.” Shiro groaned. “It was tracking us down so this thing could attack!”

Keith, who felt the force of the fall hard, rubbed his bandaged head. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. His eyes opened wide.

Five or so soldiers were riding towards them, their capes blowing in the wind. _What the hell are they thinking!_ Keith could barely believe his eyes. _They’ll get massacred!_

“Guys we gotta move!” Hunk yelled out, bring Keith’s attention back to the monster. It had gone into a dive, a nasty spike on its nose aimed right for them. Keith felt Voltron lurch, trying to move, but it stayed put.

The monster rammed Voltron, right in the middle, plowing him deeper into the crater.

“Crap…” Keith moaned, wincing. The Galra monster had them pinned, and it was rearing up for another attack. One more hit, they would be able to handle it

A large flash blinded the monster. It shrieked and shook its head. After opening his eyes, Keith could only stare as Eren, or Eren’s Titan, literally jumped the monster and wrapped his massive legs around its neck, using all his momentum to carry the beast off of Voltron.

“He’s nuts.” Pidge puffed. Keith could not agree more.

With crazy speed for something so large, Hunk and Lance had Voltron standing again. The beast shook off Eren, who landed with a crash next to the wall. A shadow from the towering structure loomed over Voltron and the beast. As the Galra monster recovered from Eren’s attack, its beady black eyes locked onto Voltron. It came at them, roaring.

Keith leveled the sword, swinging back, waiting. As the beast came close, he swung, like a baseball batter. The blade connected, and like a pop fly, it was thrown up and away. A little ways up, the monster smashed into the wall, hard.

“Keith!” Hunk yelled. “We can’t damage the wall! It’s the only thing protecting these people!”

“Right.” Keith called back. The monster started to fall, but caught itself in the air. It angrily hovered about them, cautious about attacking.

“Hey, um.” Lance asked nervously. “Is that a face inside the wall?”

Keith looked up where the monster had crashed. A section of wall had cracked and fell away. Looking out at them, a huge face peered out, like a Titan except much, much taller.

“There are Titan’s inside the walls, too!” Hunk cried. “How does that even make sense?”

“It doesn’t,” Keith was confused, but tried to remain focused. “We can worry about that later. Here comes the monster.”

It was diving down, trying to catch Voltron distracted. But Keith raised his sword and the tip pierced an opening in the armor. The monster let out a blood curdling scream.

“Get us higher!” Shiro commanded. “Galra monsters always explode! We can’t let the blast hurt the wall or the Scouts!”

Keith felt a lurch as the leg thrusters kicked into high gear. Voltron rose with alarming speed, making it past the face in the wall, and the top.  He looked down for a moment, seeing the faces of all the Scout watching as they climbed into the sky. Soon, the clouds were closer than the ground.

“Higher!” Shiro called. Faster… faster.

Suddenly, a piercing noise ripped through the sky. Keith looked up just in time to see a large circle light up the sky. His mind recognized it instantly. _The Telladove!_

Voltron was going too faster, it couldn’t even pause before going through, all the momentum pushing the giant warrior and its bomb through. The trip was bumpy, a monster and Voltron tumbling through the worm hole. Keith closed his eyes and braced himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a slightly evil person. Sorry for all the cliffhangers! XD (Sorry not sorry)


	18. Pidge

It was safe to say that the ride through the wormhole was rough. Voltron bounced around, spinning with the momentum of the extra weight from the Galra monster. Pidge’s eyes were shut tight, holding on for dear life, not only to her Lion, but trying to keep Voltron together. When the wormhole ended, both robot and creature were back in space. In one last defiant act, the monster screamed, and started to glow.

Pidge braced herself, pulling Voltron’s shield in-between them and the beast. Just in time, before the monster exploded. Voltron was pushed backwards, but Pidge could feel Hunk and Lance working to keep Voltron from tumbling away. They stayed upright, and as the light from the explosion died away, Pidge allowed herself to relax, and breathed deep for the first time. But as she did, she could help but think, _are we done yet? Is there another monster or ship somewhere?_

And where are they? The wormhole took them out to space, but which space? The questions were answered with a woman’s voice.

“Paladins!” Allura, a person they hadn’t heard in a while. Suddenly, the Castle of Lions came into view. Pidge’s heart soared, she had never been so happy to see it. “Paladins, we’ve been trying to find you everywhere! Then the Black Lion took off on us. We couldn’t keep up! Do you have Shiro?”

“I’m here.” Shiro’s breath was heavy, still coming off of an adrenaline rush.

“What they heck happened?” Pidge asked. “We were fighting that thing, and then the Telladove just opened on us…”

“Yea, that was us.” Coran interjected. A picture of both Allura and Coran appeared on the Green Lion’s screen. “We were finally able to get a strong enough signal from the Lions a few minutes ago. I’m guessing it was when you formed Voltron.”

Suddenly, a thought struck Pidge like an electric shock. “Wait! What about the Scouts?”

She could almost feel all the Paladins look behind them, where the Telladove used to be. But it was gone, and so was the world of walls and Titans.

“Who’s the Scouts?” Allura asked.

The Paladins were silent for a while. Pidge could tell that none of them really wanted to answer that question. They were adventurers. They were soldiers, fighting for freedom from death.

Pidge finally found herself answering. “They were friends.” But they were gone. And Pidge couldn’t help but feel an awful guilt. Did the Paladins abandon the Scouts to doom? The Scouts were counting on them, and they had just disappeared.

“Question for you, Allura…” Keith was speaking now. “Is it possible for us to get back there?”

“I… I don’t know.” Allura looked down.

Pidge was shocked that Keith was asking. But even so, he was right. If they could just beat Lotor and find a way back. They could find the Scouts, and help them achieve the same freedom that the Paladins had always fought for.

“Guys.” Pidge said. “Let’s beat Lotor, and then finish what we started.”

The agreement could be felt through Lions, through Voltron itself, without anyone saying a word. Pidge smiled.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Lance’s voice held a charge to it, and a purpose.

“Let’s get started, Team Voltron.” Shiro’s voice had the same electricity. “We’ve got work to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Final Chapter: Eren


	19. Eren

He could barely believe the insanity that had rained down from the sky that day. First it was the giant ship, then that monster that looked like it appeared from a child’s nightmare.

In the aftermath of the battle, Eren, along with the rest of the Levi Squad, rode on the outskirts of the wreckage. The ship had blown sky high. All that was left was a torched scraps, and burned out unrecognizable pieces, charred beyond any salvation. Hange had particularly upset about that. Almost as upset that the machines and their new allies had disappeared.

“They’re gone.” Levi had been very frank on the subject, certain that they had gone back to wherever they came from. “We can’t wait around for them to show up.”

Eren guided his horse around a chunk of blackened medal. Although, he had hoped that somehow, the Paladins could have changed their dire situation, they had vanished, swallowed by the massive hole in the sky. But, as a Scout, Eren had to accept disappointment and keep moving despite it all. He urged his ride to keep up with the rest of the group.

“What the hell are we supposed to do with this mess now?” Udo asked, scowling down at the crater.

“We salvage what we can.” Captain Levi’s response was smooth and fast, like it always was. “Take whatever we can from these events.” Eren nodded. He felt his head swiveling upwards, up to the Wall.

And there it was, staring out with glazed eyes. The Titan’s face gazed out at the distant horizon. The fight had revealed more than they bargained for, the inside of the Walls. But it raised so many questions. Were all the walls like this? What did it mean? Was humanity, after all this time, been guarded from the Titans, by Titans? The thoughts and questions buzzed around inside his skull like a hive of angered hornets. Painful and unyielding.

The basement, it must have the answers. He had to get back to that basement. And he was going to find whatever was beyond them. The Paladins, they told him about everything. The whole world was out there. The ocean, fields of ice, wastelands of sand, water that sparkles like diamonds, it’s all out beyond the walls. That world belongs to humanity, not the Titans. Eren was determined to find it.

As the sun began to set, swallowed by the western horizon, stars emerged from the darkening sky. The Scout watched them, imagining his own friends soaring among those lights, free as the Paladins. After seeing those four, his resolve had become all the more powerful. _You watch, Paladins_. He thought. _You showed us what we can become. And we’ll get there, just you watch. We’re going to soar right alongside you! So leave room in the sky for the Scouts!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I'm not good at writing in Eren's perspective. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
